The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Care bosses have defended providing just 15 minutes of care a day for some of the county’s most vulnerable people.
Lincolnshire is one of a growing number of areas around the country to provide the minimum length care visits to the elderly and disabled, highlighted in a report by the Daily Telegraph.
The national newspaper submitted Freedom of Information requests to councils and the response showed that authorities booking carers for the shortest possible time slot had risen to 74 per cent from 69 per cent in the same survey last year.
The figure has been described by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt as “unacceptable”, saying there were “too many examples of councils buying rushed care visits”.
Rushed 15-minute home care visits – often daily or every two days – are widely criticised because the time is too short to allow pensioners and the disabled to be given the care they need.
But Justin Hackney, chief commissioning officer at Lincolnshire County Council, said the county’s call duration was based on need.
He said: “We assess and regularly reassess what people require and therefore each visit takes as long as is needed.
“For example, we have a great many 30-minute calls to carry out whatever is needed but, on the flip side, someone who needs and expects nothing more than support to ensure they have taken their medication, for example, would require much less.
“We know that, for some, this might be their only contact with people during the day and despite the demands of having a rapidly growing elderly population in Lincolnshire, our carers will always spend as much time as they can.
“Sometimes they may need to complete multiple visits during the same day as well.”
The Health Secretary has said he is developing new standards on how councils buy care services to clamp down on such short visits.
Ministers had already attempted to end the practice by amending the Care Act so that local authorities have to consider someone’s wellbeing when arranging care.
Izzi Secombe, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, blamed a £3.5million cut to the adult social care budget since 2010.
She said: “Councils are reluctantly required to focus their stretched resources on those most in need of essential care, and the use of short care visits is an unavoidable result of this.
“If social care continues to be inadequately funded this will tip some services into failure and leave the most vulnerable members of communities at risk of losing essential care.”
